What is axiology?

Answer

Axiology is the study of values and how those values emerge in a society. Axiology aims to comprehend the essence of values and value judgments. It is closely linked to two other areas of philosophy: ethics and aesthetics. All three branches focus on value. Ethics examines goodness, striving to grasp the concept of goodness and what it means to be good. Aesthetics explores beauty and harmony, seeking to comprehend beauty and its definition. Axiology is an essential element of both ethics and aesthetics because one must utilize worth concepts to define “goodness” or “beauty,” and thus one must grasp what is valuable and why. Understanding values assists us in determining motives.

When children pose questions like “why do we do this?” or “how come?” they are posing axiological inquiries. They seek to understand what drives us to act or refrain from acting. For instance, when a parent instructs a child not to take a cookie from the jar, the child questions why taking a cookie from the jar is considered wrong and debates with the parent. The parent may grow weary of explaining and simply responds, “Because I said so.” The child may cease arguing if he values the established authority (or if he fears the consequences of disobedience). Conversely, the child may stop arguing simply because he respects his parent. In this scenario, the value is either authority or respect, depending on the child’s values. Axiology asks, “Where do these values originate? Can either of these values be deemed good? Is one superior to the other? Why?”

Inherent in humanity is the inclination for self-preservation and self-perpetuation. Similar to animals, humans pursue food and shelter, and they crave reproduction. However, there is another set of desires we pursue: truth, beauty, love. These are distinct needs, different values that the animal kingdom does not contemplate. The Bible provides us with the answer to wBy the need for truth, love, and beauty exists. We are spiritual as well as physical beings. We are created in the image of God «So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. », (Genesis 1:27). God is higher than the natural world—He is “supernatural”—and so we are created in the image of what is supernatural. Therefore, we value what is supernatural and intangible. “For in Him we live and move and have our being” «for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. », (Acts 17:28). We do not usually think of things like beauty and love as “supernatural,” but by definition, they are in that they raise humanity above the rest of nature. Our values are determined by our nature, and our nature has a spiritual dimension.

In Hamlet, the title character famously says, “What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?” (Hamlet, II:ii). This perfectly describes the conundrum that faces us. We are formed in the image of God—we are amazing creatures. And we value that which is higher than our everyday survival needs; we want to touch the Divine. And at the same time, we are dust, subject to decay, both physically and spiritually. What will lift us up, past our natural selves, to attain that which we innately value? When the apostle Paul said, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24-25), he was drawing a distinction between “me” (the super

“This body” (the physical) and “natural” (the innate). Ultimately, the solution for each of us is to return to the Origin of all worth, God. We embrace His complimentary present of redemption, through belief. “Consequently, since we have been vindicated through faith, we have harmony with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained entry by faith into this favor in which we now exist. And we exult in the anticipation of the magnificence of God” (Romans 5:1-2).